Gonna be judging at MeadFest!!!!

OMIGOD!!! Ray Daniels e'd me yesterday and asked me to judge, and Julia at Redstone asked me today! I'm flippin out here! Now I have to go and read *everything* I can get on judging, to make sure I'm worthy!

Re: Gonna be judging at MeadFest!!!!

Thanks for the support, y'all! This one is judging for commercial meads, so I've an unparalleled opportunity to taste and compare the nations finest commercially sold meads.

The cool thing is, I'll be able to come back here and do a write up on both the festival itself, and what I thought of the meads I taste. I'm also going to the open tastings, so I'll get to actually *swallow* some of them! At the judging you can't do that, or you'll be trashed before you're done!

Anyone who has good info on judging (thanks for yours Pewter, I'm reading it now -- and linking it on Gotmead for future judges), please put it up here. I'll collect them for me, and create a new judging section on Gotmead for others who might end up where I'm at, either in a homebrew or commercial contest.

Thanks again for all y'all's support, and I'll take lots of pix and a few short videos at the show, and do a detailed write up on everything I see!

I also have the tech sheets from the American Homebrewer's Fetstival 1993 section on Mead, types of mead, scoring, flavors etc.

The BJCP is pretty much a reprint of that. There is some controversy out there about the BJCP and it's value to mead, but I don't know enough about the players or issues involved to really dive into it.

Re: Gonna be judging at MeadFest!!!!

I've read the BJCP guidelines for mead, they strike me as utterly useless.

Since we're on the subject of judging, I'd like to point out what I feel is a major issue in mead competitions. The categories are too broad, there are simply not enough styles for fair judging. For example, look at melomels. How can you compare a cherry melomel to a strawberry or a mixed-fruit? The same can be said for every other style of mead. My braggot certainly won't taste like one made with a different honey and malt, how could somebody say one was better than the other? I think these competitions have to narrow the categories quite a bit to make it fair. Look at beer, tons of different styles, some quite similar to each other. I know you can't define every possible style, but you should be able to give enough options so that we aren't literally comparing apples to oranges. The styles could still be broad enough to allow for experimentation.

Re: Gonna be judging at MeadFest!!!!

How can you compare a cherry melomel to a strawberry or a mixed-fruit? The same can be said for every other style of mead.

Real easy Wikd, Just taste them. They aren't rated on whether the judge likes cherry better than strawberry. They are rated on how the fruit character came through irregardless of the fruit. That along with other charcteristics like balance etc.. that make no difference whether considering one fruit or the other. An experienced judge knows a good melomel from a bad or mediocre one.
Joe

Re: Gonna be judging at MeadFest!!!!

Real easy Wikd, Just taste them. They aren't rated on whether the judge likes cherry better than strawberry. They are rated on how the fruit character came through irregardless of the fruit. That along with other charcteristics like balance etc.. that make no difference whether considering one fruit or the other. An experienced judge knows a good melomel from a bad or mediocre one.
Joe

Then why categorize at all? Just judge mead based on how it's designed characteristics come through. Lump them all together and declare a single winner.

Re: Gonna be judging at MeadFest!!!!

OMIGOD!!! Ray Daniels e'd me yesterday and asked me to judge, and Julia at Redstone asked me today! I'm flippin out here! Now I have to go and read *everything* I can get on judging, to make sure I'm worthy!

Vicky - in mild panic mode now

Hi Vicky --

Congrats on joining the judging panel! Dick Dunn might be at the meadfest this year and may be judging. You're going to have a good time!

I'll be out there also -- I'm scheduled to give the history presentation on Friday. Looking forward to seeing you there.

-- Dan M.

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Dan McFeeley

"Meon an phobail a thogail trid an chultur"
(The people's spirit is raised through culture)

Re: Gonna be judging at MeadFest!!!!

Something else that will be happening at this year's Meadfest is the formation of the mead organization that folk have been waiting for, ever since the demise of the American Mead Association. The name will be the International Mead Association. The meeting will be Saturday 12:30 to 3:00 pm.

It's still too new to have any idea what directions the IMA will be taking but I think we can predict great things for it once it begins to pick up steam.

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Dan McFeeley

"Meon an phobail a thogail trid an chultur"
(The people's spirit is raised through culture)